Monitors praise revamp of child tracking system

Apr. 3, 2013

Written by

Brian Haas

The Tennessean

Almost three years and millions of dollars in fixes later, the state’s computer system to track abused and neglected children may finally be up to snuff.

Federal monitors charged with ensuring the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services is protecting the state’s most vulnerable kids filed a new report this week detailing the agency’s progress in fixing its computer system. That $27 million system, called the Tennessee Family and Child Tracking System, or TFACTS, has been plagued by problems from its inception in August 2010. But it is finally in good enough shape to inform federal oversight of the state’s child welfare system.

“It was quite clear that the rollout of TFACTS was essentially failing,” said Ira Lustbader, attorney for Children’s Rights, a New York group that has had oversight of DCS since it won a federal lawsuit in 2000. “They’ve made a big step forward here.”

DCS Commissioner Jim Henry said the agency was pleased with the new report.

“The improvements we continue to make to the system are generating positive results,” he said. “We have dramatically reduced the number of defects from more than 1,700 to 382, but we still have a long way to go to get TFACTS where we want it to be functionally.”

System still flawed

TFACTS was set up to handle the bulk of casework in DCS, from initial suspicions of abuse or neglect all the way through foster families and adoptions. But it has been blamed for countless problems, ranging from failing to pay foster parents to being unable to produce reports about children who have died while in agency custody. DCS caseworkers have complained it is difficult to navigate, slow to respond and that simple tasks simply take too long to complete.

In the fall, Children’s Rights complained in federal court that TFACTS had reached a “crisis” and was wholly unable to provide sufficient data to determine whether the state’s children were being properly protected. But the latest report indicates DCS has fixed thousands of defects and added new capabilities to TFACTS, rendering it far more usable.

The system still has flaws, according to the report. Half of caseworkers complained of being kicked out of the system at some point, and only slightly fewer said it was still too slow.

Meanwhile, Lustbader also said there has been a dramatic improvement in relations since former DCS Commissioner Kate O’Day resigned in February. Henry, who has continued to head the state’s Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, and Larry Martin, a longtime aide to Gov. Bill Haslam, were sent to DCS to start resolving the agency’s problems.

“Looking forward, I think there are signs of encouragement here and signs that we might be moving on a much better path,” Lustbader said.

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